Atlanta & "Little Buddy"

I went to Atlanta last weekend to see my new nephew, Elijah.  I am posting a few pics here, but the rest can be found on my facebook page.

It was a pleasant trip.  In addition to the "little guy", with his perma-frown and cute button nose, I got to see much of Sarah & Preston, who I am not often able to see, and even Bonnie & Coventry for a bit, whom I've seen even less of.  I was glad for that, and glad to be away from the editing of papers and studying for my qualifying exam.

Atlanta, by the way, is a beautiful city.  It has lots of new buildings for its size, and feels rather clean.  The roads slope gently up & down and are often lined with many trees.  It has some diverse restaurants and midtown/downtown is a good experience.  The warm climate is also quite welcome.

More importantly, the hospitals in Atlanta are very good, which is why my nephew is there for his heart treatments at Egleston.  (Can we say "hypoplastic left-heart syndrome"?  Yeah, didn't think so.)

Incidentally, Atlanta also has a number of good places for research, specifically in "bioinformatics", which just happens to be my speciality and area of research.  Other bioinformatics centers exist around the country, but the best alternatives are probably west coast, IMHO.  I could see myself enjoying living in Atlanta someday, perhaps doing my post-doc or getting a job doing professorship or research, but God will lead.  I look forward to perhaps doing my internship there late next summer at GA Tech.

In any case, I'm very proud of Sarah & Preston.  Each day for them holds both the possibility for the excitement of progress or for the disappointment of set-backs.  However, they are doing their best to stay strong trusting God, and I very much admire that.  Elijah is doing better, thanks to good doctors and LOTS of prayer.  Praise Jesus! :)  He is finally now breathing on his own and may soon be in the step-down unit where Preston and Sarah can care for him more personally without having to be in the ICU.

I'm glad for Sarah & Preston's love for my nephew, and the love of many more who have heard their story.  It makes me look fondly on the prospect of being a dad myself someday.  I should hope to be so lucky as to be as good a parent as these two.  And what does that look like anyway?  Much love for your child I think, and much trust in the Lord despite the difficulties that life inevitably brings.  What more can one do?

Loved

You wake up to the morning light on your face.  This was not the time you should have gotten up for the day. Irritated you hit the snooze button--repeating the process again and again until at length you find yourself rolling out of bed to rush off for work.

You stifle the remorse running through your nerves, but something is lost in the quiet of the morning. Time to see God; time to be without requirements.  The day is already upon you and you will work through your duties with reluctant decision, but not joy.

Occasionally worries and fears enter your heart to pierce that unsteady form within, but you let it pass thru as you go to the next task, unsatisfied with the resolution of avoidance.  "How did I come to feel this way?" you may ask, "Nothing has changed since yesterday."

Just yesterday you had felt some measure of peace, but now you feel doubt about your life and prospects.  Why is it so much harder to get through the day?

---

I think that when our hearts are despairing, when life feels impossibly difficult or overwhelmingly painful, we have lost true perspective for our lives.  We may be thinking of something in particular that is bothering us (love, finances, family, what have you), and to be sure, it is bothering us, but deep down inside I think we just want to know everything will be all right someday, that we will be faithfully cared for by someone who is stronger than us--in short, that we will be loved.  We therefore despair not only for the broken and hopeless causes in our lives, but for a lack of recognition of the truth: God truly loves us,  irrespective of how great we are or how great we believe we have failed.

Christ's sacrifice has shown us that love.  That's a fact that neither circumstances nor emotions can touch.  We're clean now too if we have believed in Him.  That's a fact as well.  I think that if we pondered God's love for us and really let that soak into our hearts, if it became real to us for just the first moments of the day, half the things we are tempted to worry about thereafter wouldn't be so much of an issue.  We would have peace in resting in the truth of His love, and then whatever comes, we would reckon ourselves His and safe in His arms.

May God give me the grace then to bear these things in mind as I live my own life.

"Why are you in despair, O my soul?  And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God."

-Psalm 42:11

On Blogging

FIRST POST!  

Ha! The day is mine! :) I finally got one.

So here it is, the first entry.  I've never been super-fabulous at blogging.  Just journaling you know, so go figure.
However, I think it's worth another try. Writing has always been good for me.  It's in my nature to write.

"What is my purpose here?"  Well, that's a good question, me! :)

I'll make it simple then:

1. let other people know what I'm up to


2. encourage them with what God is encouraging me


3. entertain as i do both

If I can't have fun writing, well, I don't think it'll be fun for anyone else to read either, just my $0.02...